Delivery diaries: Local pizza driver shares experience on the road

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SNOWMASS VILLAGE - There's barely anything in the fridge, you don't feel like cooking, or it's late and the munchies are calling. Whatever the reason, ordering a pizza to be delivered right to your door is like flying first class: You can order whatever you want when you want, and you can eat it while sitting in a recliner. Arguably one of the greatest commodities since the advent of the car culture in the 1950s, pizza delivery has grown from a polite gesture to a handheld application of choosing the pie and tracking it from the oven to the doorstep in 30 minutes, without even dialing a number.

Luckily for the guys at Taster's, the Domino's enterprising model of online pizza ordering and tracking hasn't skewed our down-home choice for year-round yummy pie - at least not yet. But the drivers at our favorite local spot do work hard to make sure our customized pies are baked and delivered hot to our doors, no matter what condition the driveways (or the customers, for that matter) are in during the middle of January.

For a firsthand look into some of the things our local drivers do encounter between the shop and a stranger's door, four-year Taster's veteran Trevor Clapper gives us the scoop.

Snowmass Sun: What kind of car(s) do you drive for deliveries, and have you ever gotten stuck in the snow?

Trevor Clapper: We switch out between a Subaru Outback and a Chevy Cavalier, both of which can be very hairy, especially when driving to houses that are totally off the grid. I personally have never gotten stuck, but plenty of others have had to be towed out on multiple occasions.

SS: Can you recall a favorite memory from the road?

TC: There are tons, but driving the sketchy front-wheel Cavalier with a foot and a half of snow blowing over the hood definitely tops the list. Oh, and big groups of drunk people who all hand me money at once is also very fun.

SS: In your four years spent making deliveries, did anything ever go seriously wrong?

TC: Yes. I have left pizzas on the roof of the car, only to drive all the way to someone's house before I discover their entire order is on the road somewhere.

SS: Have you ever had any outlandish requests from customers? Did you follow through with any?

TC: A customer from the Viceroy once asked me to pick up his ski rentals and deliver his pizza with a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of Grey Goose. I did it, and in turn he gave me a $100 tip. Other than that we often end up giving rides to people, usually drunk people who are wandering the streets far from home.

SS: Do you have any advice for future customers who request a delivery?

TC: Yes. If you order food and I knock on your door, please remember to put on a pair of pants.